And After Ryanair…

Despite all the pessimistic alarms sounded over Ryanair’s withdrawal from the Azores, the summer of 2026 came and went—and the world carried on.

Tourism in the Islands was already suffering, and continues to suffer, from the lack of adequate services across the many sectors connected to this abundant resource—one that has, however precariously, kept the insular economy afloat. Solutions remain elusive.

In speaking with several businesses linked to the industry—including restaurants, hotels, guest accommodations, and related establishments—there is broad agreement that tourist numbers have declined. Nevertheless, there has also been an increase in visitors with greater purchasing power, which has helped mitigate the losses.

Everyone laments the unprecedented crisis that continues to afflict this industry: the shortage of people willing and available to work.

There has been much discussion of quality tourism, but such tourism will not come unless the services required to sustain it are firmly in place. Without qualified and capable personnel, no tourism industry can endure.

At the same time, central government bureaucracy makes it difficult for competent foreign workers to enter the Islands. Among the arguments advanced is the claim that some immigrants use their visas to remain in the Azores for a time before moving on to mainland Portugal, where they subsequently disperse throughout Europe.

Perhaps one possible solution would be a visa issued exclusively for the Azores, making it clear to applicants that they would be permitted to work only in the Islands, without the right to relocate from the Archipelago to the mainland. It would be a visa category designed specifically for the Azores, governed by the limited terms of an employment contract valid on any of the nine islands.

It falls to regional political leaders to work in concert with their national counterparts to resolve this serious problem.

The solution may well require the admission of immigrants, without reproducing the lack of control witnessed in Portugal in recent years.

If this grave problem is not addressed in the near term, the result could be an economic disaster affecting every island in the Archipelago.

With quality services, we can cultivate quality tourism. And word travels; it crosses borders and spreads throughout the world.

Ryanair brought large numbers of visitors with limited purchasing power—the model of mass tourism. We may instead have fewer tourists, but visitors with greater financial means and a stronger demand for quality. Yet none of this will matter without high-quality services, which at present remain both scarce and inadequate.

Just as other countries once did when receiving Portuguese emigrants, recourse to controlled immigration is the only viable answer both to the population decline of recent years and to the persistent shortage of labor.

Global mobility is today, more than ever, an irreversible reality. In the years ahead, the world’s population will continue to grow exponentially, while ever more people will wish to travel. Such mobility endures across every crisis.

The Azorean Islands will continue to occupy an increasingly visible and privileged place among the world’s most desirable destinations. The Archipelago is a diamond still being cut and polished, destined to shine with singular brilliance through its natural environment, its culture, its people, and, above all, the embrace of its incomparable beauty.

Few places in the world resemble these Islands: their peace, their temperate climate, the absence of predatory animals, and their enduring, seemingly immutable beauty.

Each of us bears an individual responsibility to safeguard and enhance the immense resource that Nature has placed in our hands. Its promise—and its dividends—remain considerable.

Those whom we elect bear an equally clear responsibility: to listen—and to act.

José Soares is a columnist for several newspapers and magazines in the Azores and abroad, and a regular contributor to Novidades.